StudioCanal adds intl. marketing exec

Friedenson is key as company continues to expand

Reflecting yet further growth at Euro major StudioCanal, Shyama Friedenson has been tapped as exec VP of international marketing.

A former senior VP of international marketing at Paramount Vantage, and before that international marketing head at Lionsgate for eight years, Friedenson has long experience of bowing major speciality label and indie titles.

In one of her last gigs at Par Vantage, she oversaw the worldwide launch of Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” at February’s Berlin Festival.

Before that, Friedenson worked with Paramount Pictures Intl. and third-party distributors on Vantage titles such as “Revolutionary Road” and “No Country for Old Men.”

Friedenson has relocated to Paris.

StudioCanal needs such experience as it moves ever more into territory once occupied by Hollywood’s speciality labels and partially replicates studio distribution structures in Europe.

StudioCanal is bulking up on the number and scale of the films it sells internationally.

It also intends to fire up pan-European distribution, putting films through all of its distribs — the U.K.’s Optimum Releasing, Germany’s Kinowelt and StudioCanal in France.

“We’ll have a significant number of common movies between the three countries: blockbusters through our Hollywood partnerships, French movies like ‘The Princess of Montpensier’ and ‘Outside the Law,’ early U.K. productions such as ‘Attack the Block,’ and independent international productions,” StudioCanal chairman-CEO Olivier Courson told Daily Variety.

He added that “The Tourist,” with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, will be put out by StudioCanal on 1,500-2,000 prints in the U.K., France and Germany.

Courson said he was “very confident” he’d have the remake of “Escape From New York” in production by the end of the year.

With Brett Eisner on board to direct, “Escape” is produced by Neal H. Moritz’s Original Films for Warner Bros./New Line and StudioCanal, which has all rights for Europe.